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Basse-Terre

Also known as Basse Terre, Bastè

Basse-Terre (, ; ; ) is a commune in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the prefecture (capital city) of Guadeloupe. The city of Basse-Terre is located on Basse-Terre Island, the western half of Guadeloupe.

OverviewAI-generated

Basse-Terre is a commune in France, serving as the capital of the Guadeloupe region, the arrondissement of Basse-Terre, and the cantons of Basse-Terre and Basse-Terre-1. Established in 1643, the municipality has an area of 5.78 square kilometers and a population of 11,150, of which 4,501 are male. It shares borders with Baillif, Gourbeyre, and Saint-Claude. The town’s postal code is 97100, and it operates in the UTC−04:00 time zone.

The administrative heads of government include Lucette Michaux-Chevry and Marie-Luce Penchard. Basse-Terre is twinned with Pondicherry. Geographically, the location has an elevation of 4 meters according to one source and 11 meters according to another. A bridge known as the Viaduc sur le port de Basse-Terre is situated within the city limits.

Synthesized by Vinony from 51 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, Open Meteo, Openweathermap, OpenStreetMap, GeoNames, Vinony graph, Geo. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

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7-day forecast

via Open-Meteo

Place details

Locality: Basse-Terre
Region: Guadeloupe
Country: France
Population: 11,472
Timezone: America/Guadeloupe

via OpenStreetMap · GeoNames

Air quality

76US AQIModerate

PM2.5: 13.0 µg/m³
PM10: 32.6 µg/m³

As of 2026-08-10 20:00 · Open-Meteo

Key facts

French commune.name: Basse-Terre
French commune.commune status: Prefecture and commune
French commune.image coat of arms: COA fr Basse-Terre.svg
French commune.map: Locator map of Basse-Terre 2018.png
French commune.map caption: Location of the commune (in red) within Guadeloupe
French commune.arrondissement: Basse-Terre
French commune.canton: Basse-Terre
French commune.INSEE: 97105
French commune.postal code: 97100
French commune.mayor: André Atallah
French commune.term: 2020–2026
French commune.intercommunality: CA Grand Sud Caraïbe
French commune.area km2: 5.78

via Wikipedia infobox

Travel guide

Understand

"Basse-Terre" means "lowland", but it is in fact mountainous, containing such peaks as Mount Sans Toucher (4,442 feet; 1,354 metres) and Grande Découverte (4,143 feet; 1,263 metres), culminating in the active volcano La Grande Soufrière, the highest mountain peak in the Lesser Antilles with an elevation of 1,467 metres (4,813 ft). The island was named "Basse-Terre" because it is on the leeward south-west side and sheltered from the winds.

In contrast to the rolling hills and flat plains landscape of Grande-Terre, Basse-Terre (the western wing of the island) has a rough volcanic relief. With fertile volcanic soils, heavy rainfall and a warm climate, vegetation on Basse-Terre is lush. The island's forests have mahogany, ironwood and chestnut trees. Mangrove swamps line the Salée River.

See

, the administrative capital of Guadeloupe, is home to a range of colonial buildings. Furthermore, there are the 19th century Cathedral of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul, the main square and adjoining Jardin Pichon. is the industrial and commercial zone of Guadeloupe, nothing special to do or see. It has the biggest shopping mall of the island.

Do

Carnaval - 2-month long festival from the first Sunday in January to Ash Wednesday. Music, dancing, costumes, food and celebrations. thumb|Carnaval in Basse-Terre

Travel guide from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0)

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

36 sections

Contents

Geography
Climate
Toponymy
History
Native American origins
Birth of the town of Basse-Terre (1635–1649)
Birth of the town of Saint-François (circa 1680)
British occupation (1759–1763) and tentative revival (1763–1789)
Revolutionary period (1789–1802)
Difficult renewal (1802–1870)
Renewed activity (1870–1976)
Since 1976
Heraldry
Administration
Judicial and administrative bodies
Twinning
Demography
Education
Health
Town planning
Urban morphology
Communal territory
Housing
Economy
Employment
Culture and heritage
Civil heritage
Religious heritage
Festivals
Sport
Media
Picture gallery
Notable people linked to the commune
See also
References
External links

Although it is the administrative capital, Basse-Terre is only the second-largest city in Guadeloupe, behind Pointe-à-Pitre. Together with its urban area, it had 44,864 inhabitants in 2012 (11,534 of whom lived in the city of Basse-Terre proper).

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Basse-Terre” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.